Another Life V
by burmafrd
Summary: The final part of Liz's story as an Immortal.  All due homage to the creators of the worlds of Highlander and Roswell. This is just for fun.  Do I really need to say this is AU to both universese?
1. Chapter 1

6 months after Liz basically got the message she would be on the hook for doing something big sometime, the Scout Ships were checking an area about 1000 light years from Earth. This was more towards the middle of the galaxy, and more heavily populated by systems so the hope was they would find some planets that could be settled. The number of actual rocky planets found was what was expected; the problem was that most of them just did not have the particular features required: be within the liquid water zone of a stable sun (most were too far or too near or the sun was unstable); had an oxygen nitrogen atmosphere thick enough (most were too thick, too thin or the composition was wrong); was stable and with water and land and some life (all too many were dry); or did not have a strong enough magnetic field to shield the planet from the most dangerous radiations of its sun (many planets had none at all).

The Scout ships had been looking for almost 6 years by this time; much longer than anyone had thought that they would need. The first hints of a growing belief that it might take decades to find one was beginning to permeate the crews. But they were dedicated and they kept on looking.

So when the senior ship got a reading of a system with several planets in the liquid water zone (the first criteria) not much was thought of it. They began to close with the system so that they could get better readings from their sensors.

But as they got closer more of the boxes on the checklist began to get marked off. The Sun was a solid middle of the road yellow star; the most preferred of possibilities. It appeared stable and that was another. Then they saw that the planets had atmospheres. So far so good but that had happened a lot and in the end had come up nothing.

As the ship began to enter the system the asteroid belt was noted; that was another good thing as those belts tended to shield the inner planets from rogue comets and asteroids. And of course that also meant valuable minerals to be mined.

The system had 3 outer gas giants; fairly standard and unremarkable. Their larger moons were also unremarkable. They passed through the asteroid belt and got their first real good look at the inner planets. There were more than usual; 6. And while one was near the belt as Mars was, too far out; and one was like Mercury and too far in; the other four were rather closely grouped right in the middle of the liquid water zone, approximately the same as Earth was.

All four had atmospheres that appeared to be neither too thick nor too thin. The crew aboard the ship began to get cautiously optimistic. The Atmospheres registered as Oxygen/Nitrogen in the same general area of Earths. This was beginning to excite the captain and chief science officer.

All four were of the mix of around 60% water and 40% land. Also to the good. Then the sensors began to pick up plant life and animal life. The Captain looked at his XO; could it be?

They orbited the first planet; it was a little farther out but not much; their orbits were far enough apart that the stress of passing each other would not cause any problems. It was a beautiful blue planet; the weather patterns were very much like earth. They began to check the planet for geological stability. Many possible planets had to be passed up due to instability. A more detailed survey of the atmosphere showed that it would be fine for Human or Antarian habitation. Now they were also looking to make sure there was no intelligent life. Its axis tilt was less than earths which would mean it would not have as much variation in its seasons. It appeared to be a relatively cool planet; the temperatures at the equator were only about 90 degrees F. Its polar caps were large and showed steady temperatures of -20 F. That meant, as it had two large continents, its temperate zone was at about 70 degrees in the hemisphere that currently registered as its summer. But it seemed to have a fair amount of plant and animal life.

The Captain made a decision and called the other two scout ships; they could be there in days. He wanted all ships to be scanning these planets. They just might have found their new worlds. He was conflicted on whether to send a message to the King; then decided to wait to make sure these planets did not have hidden problems.

Liz faked a cut high then went low then slashed and stabbed; Lisa was able to block them but it was close. Liz stepped back and nodded to her; the sparing session was over. Lisa was quite happy for that; they had been going at it for over an hour and she was tired. The queen seemed to be sweating some but not as much as she was. This had been a hard session.

Liz sat down and began to clean her sword; Lisa sat beside her and started to do the same. Like old time cavalrymen who took care of their horse before themselves, Immortals always cleaned their swords first.

Liz looked at Lisa.

"You are doing very well; you have your defense down as well as anyone can expect. But you still need to work on your offense."

Lisa sighed. "I know. I have to do better at that."

Liz looked at her. "I know attacking is not natural for you; but you have to do it in order to win; to survive. The fact that you have not had a challenge is no excuse not to work harder on your attacks, Lisa."

Lisa bowed her head. Liz reached over and brushed a lock of sweaty hair off of her face.

"Lisa, I push you hard because I care about you; I want you to survive."

"I know Liz. I will do better, I promise."

Liz backed off, knowing that pushing harder would not accomplish anything. It was something that Lisa had to find inside of herself; not something that Liz could give her.

Later that night with Max, watching their children play, she thought about what she needed to do to try and get Lisa over that final hump. The need to kill. But she really had no idea how to do that; for her it had not been a problem due to how quickly her first challenge came to her. But Lisa had been working for almost a year and a half on her swordsmanship; technically long past her student stage. She had not had a challenge or even came close to one. So perhaps that was part of the reason.

Max could always tell when Liz was wrestling with a problem; and he knew she was now.

"Liz, something is bothering you. What is it?"

Liz sighed. "Lisa is still not very good on the attack; she is excellent in defense but you need more to survive a challenge."

"She needs to do that on her own, Liz. You cannot teach her that until she wants to learn it."

"I know."

Things were going very well in most areas. Earth was thriving now that oil was no longer the primary energy. The virtually limitless solar plants and fusion plants that the Antarians had brought with them had made oil a second or even third thought as regards energy. Oil and Gas and Coal were disappearing and just about everyone was very happy about that. The planet was cleaner than it had been; much more prosperous than it had EVER been. Hunger and other problems were on the road to being solved.

However that was now factoring into another problem: over population. With the very advanced Medical technology and everything else, the planet wide death rates from disease and other causes had plummeted. Family size was growing again around much of the world. That meant that the need to colonize other worlds would steadily rise in importance.

One critical technology that had had a great effect was the ability to sense any type of explosive at a distance. That had enabled the virtual elimination of many of the weapons used by terrorists. Even the propellant from a single bullet could be found at a good distance now. Suicide bombers had been virtually eliminated; and that left those with terrorist agendas with little alternative. That also allowed security forces to relax and use much less intrusive surveillance and tactics. And with many of the third world countries now more prosperous than they had ever been, sympathy for the fanatics had all but disappeared. They were slowly but surely fading away.

This drop in tensions and problems allowed much less expenditure on the military and security areas and thus that money could be spent elsewhere. With energy becoming virtually free, and medical technology so advanced not only with cures but prevention, the entire world was heading towards a prosperity only dreamed of just a short 5 years ago.

A small ship, carefully hiding itself, observed the other ships scanning and looking at those planets. Its commander frowned; he did not like the thought that others had found these rich and empty planets. He would have to inform his leader.

The planet of the Pegasus system that the Shapeshifters had come from was greatly different than most. But they could breathe the same air that their former fellow system members the Antarians and Granularians. Even if they could not have survived on that planet themselves. It was a cool world; and thus the planet that the small scout ship had found was the closest they had heard of to their home world. The planet had had a upheaval politically; the old dynasty had been over thrown and the new government was no friend to those that had for so long ruled. So a small number of them had had the resources to build and send a ship looking for a new home world so that they could move and rule as before.

Dranulark Hoosssteer read the message and frowned. The Antarians had found that planet just after they had. This was not good. Their damn democracy would spread there and infect anywhere they went. His small group only numbered a little over 10,000. They had no chance of fighting them off. And their home world was getting less and less hospital for them. But what could they do? He decided to place that question in the hands of his deputy, Crelyve Urter. He was devious and ruthless; perhaps he could find a way.

Urter considered the situation after his Lord had commanded him to fix the problem. They could claim that planet; with the others nearby the Antarians would not object. But it would be only a matter of time before that disease called Democracy would spread; if they were near it was just a matter of time. The odds of finding another world like this one was huge; the Antarians had been looking for years. They did not have the time. No, they had to prevent the Antarians from coming to this system.

Jerrold Matthews was almost 400 years old; and he was the oldest of this group of Immortals. He was not only the smartest but the most ruthless. His group was every bit as hard and strong as the fabled Horsemen had been. The difference was that they were not known. They had moved around the world, from the wilds of Africa, to the pampas of South America, always staying away from people and cities. His men had sworn allegiance to him 300 years ago. His group of 12 were a team; they lived as they pleased where and when they pleased.

He had early on found out about the Watchers; when he had been an immortal only 50 years he caught his, tortured him for information, then killed him. As he began to put his group together, he carefully made sure that the watchers were eliminated and then they would make sure they were not found again. Now that meant they had to be careful what heads they took; and to always make sure the Watcher never got away. The discipline he instilled early on with the new immortals he recruited allowed them to stay under the notice level of the Watchers. And anyone else.

But that was getting increasingly difficult in this day and age. The growth of population and civilization, the two most hated things in his mind, were beginning to reach the point where his group would not be able to stay out of sight and mind. He had hoped in the 70's and 80's that a nuclear war would break out; thinning the population and making it possible to live as they wished. As he wished.

Despite his distaste for civilization, he made full use of modern life in other ways. He had over the years built an intelligence gathering organization of mortals that was very good. This allowed him and his group to slip away from official notice when necessary. Usually bribes were more than enough; sometimes other methods were needed; and the key to that was always intelligence.

Early on he could see that the aliens would be a threat; their technical abilities possibly being able to detect immortals. At the same time the possibility of leaving an increasingly crowed and unfriendly (to his group anyway) planet and go to another was something to consider. OR better yet, have a ship and wander the stars. That began to appeal to him and he ordered his intelligence people to start to see what secrets they could find out from the Aliens.

Urter brought his ship to Earth and began to observe the situation there. It was not hard to remain unseen by the primitive methods used by the humans. What he did not realize was that something of much greater ability was watching him.

The Granolith always scanned the area around earth; and while the range of its sensors was limited; its ability to detect different types of energy had actually improved. So it did detect the Energy signature of the small ship that appeared to be hiding in Earth Orbit. It did not take long for it to identify the power source; and then deduce where it came from. The ability to build small high speed scout ships was very limited; and of that design only two planets had the capability; the remaining planets of the Pegasus System. Further careful observation narrowed it down to the Cresyks; the Shape shifters. The recent overthrow of the dynasty indicated that this was not a government ship. Almost certainly one of the remaining so called Noble Houses that had immense wealth. These noble houses would have no love for Earth nor Antarians; it was the democracy brought to Antar by the humans and the Royal Four that had spread and destroyed the power and position of the Noble Houses. Therefore it was reasonable to assume it was of hostile intent.

The Captain of the senior scout ship was holding a conference with the other ships. They had been all there for 2 weeks; his for 3. They had surveyed all 4 planets.

"So to sum up, all four planets are suitable for colonization. But the inner planet is a little hot and dry; and the outer planet is a little cold. Suitable but not ideal. The middle two planets are as good as we could hope for?"

The captain of the ship that had exhaustively scanned those two planets nodded.

"They are absolutely stable. They had an excellent magnetic field. Their atmosphere is slightly richer than earth's in oxygen. They have slightly less tilt on their axis so their climate extremes are less than Earths. Both planets had a 60/40 split of ocean to land mass. Planet 2 has four separate continents; all roughly equal; planet 3 like planet 4 has two large continents."

The last captain had surveyed the inner most habitable planet.

"It is hotter; and has only 20% ocean. So the temperature extremes are made larger by the lesser heat sink. Its tilt is slightly more than Earths, and so overall it has Average extremes of 130 F and -40 F at its equator and polar regions respectively. The most temperate parts of the planet are good; they have numerous lakes and rivers, and more diverse plant and animal life than any of the other planets."

The Senior Captain nodded. "No trace of any higher life forms or sentient forms?"

"No civilizations or traces of such. There is no indications at all."

He nodded. "Then I will make a report to the king informing him that we have found the new Antar and Granular. And a place where humans can migrate as well."

Liz listened to the Granolith as it briefed her and Max about the ship it had detected. She looked at Max.

"But they have broken no laws and appear so far to have not threatened us or to be a threat. So we can do nothing."

Max nodded. "I agree with the Granolith's view that it can only be hostile considering where it came from and who almost certainly had it built. Granolith, why do you think they are here and what is their goal?"

"You are their enemy; they are watching their enemy. The logical deduction is to cause you harm."

Liz frowned. "What can they do? If they attack us, they will be found and destroyed. They must know that."

"That is correct; but I have noticed that biological beings are often illogical and ruled by their emotions and hatreds. Therefore one must only go by the possible threat; not the probably actions."

Max nodded. "Keep monitoring them; this has top priority."

Money can buy many things; quite often it can buy people as well; one way or another.

Most of the employees in the Palace were Antarians; but there were a fair number of humans as well. Jerrold Mathews was patient; and his intelligence organization was thorough. So when a member of the maintenance team in the palace managed to get himself quite deep in debt by gambling, the opportunity was quickly seized. William Anderson found himself forced to plant very sophisticated listening devices; they were sound powered and interestingly made possible by some of the technology that the Antarians had brought with them. They could only be found by a careful sensor sweep. The Granolith normally did that every month; but due to the presence of the alien ship, it had to let some normal functions wait. So the conversation about the alien ship was relayed to Jerrold Mathews. And the subsequent conversations that Alex had with the Granolith about it was also given to Mathews.

The enemy of my enemy may be my friend. That old saying seemed logical to Mathews. But how to contact them; that was the question. Then he was given the information that Alex had mused that a simple laser communication could be a way to talk to them. Rather than radio. It would be secure and focused. Even if one would need to be very powerful to go from the ground to where it was, at 200 miles above earth. Alex had asked the granolith how much power it would need to communicate if say it came from a plane flying at 40,000 feet. Alex would often talk to the granolith about things like that.

Matthews order the rental of a large jet cargo plane; and the building of a laser that could be used to contact the alien ship. Perhaps common cause could be made with them.

That was the last of the information as the Granolith did a belated sweep and detected the listening devices. Jerrold had contingencies and anti-tampering devices on the microphones that would warn him if they were found. Or deactivated. Once that happen another contingency plan was activated.

Max was having a meeting with the Antarian security chief. The listening devices were displayed on the table in front of him.

"And he was found with a bullet in his head?"

"Yes your majesty. Outside the compound by the Federal Security service."

That was the security force responsible for the perimeter security and the area around the US settlements.

"We have done some investigation into him and the Security service has found evidence he was a heavy gambler deep in debt until just recently."

Max slowly nodded. "So odds are he was the one that planted the bugs?"

"He had access to all the areas the listening devices were found. We know when the Granolith made the last sweep. He was probably bribed just after. These devices could have been there for a full month."

"But they were made on Earth?"

"The Granolith analyzed them and was very definite about that."

"So odds were it was not the doing of our visitors?"

"Probably not."

"So now we have two groups snooping on us."

Max looked at Liz and nodded. "Seems that way. One terrestrial and one extraterrestrial."

Liz looked thoughtful. "I wonder if they are working together?"

"Hope not."

It had taken a month, but they had been lucky and that one of the projects of the old soviet union had been in that same area, and like so much else from that time and place, it had come on the open market. So they installed the laser in the aircraft and began to try and communicate with the ship. One thing they had gotten was where the ship was in orbit; so they had a good chance of it being noticed.

Urther was trying to learn more about this planet. He was interested in the large number of primitive nuclear devices and the missiles that carried them. If a way could be found to launch them…

But how? As A Shapeshifter it would not be difficult at all to appear as the proper military authorities; but the knowledge of how to act and talk and the rest was not something you could take from your subject like its form.

"Sir. It seems someone might be trying to communicate with us. Using primitive human energy beams that they call Lasers. It is coming from one of their atmospheric craft."

Urther looked at the officer. "Is this from one of the Earth Governments?"

The officer looked uncertain. "Not sure Sir. It is using the language of Granular. Our computer confirms that. But we can see where the aircraft is; and it is on the other side of the planet from the settlements of Granularians."

Urther looked thoughtful. "Answer them. I am curious. First how did they know we were here; and second why do they want to talk to us."


	2. Chapter 2

"My lord, we are getting a response from the Aliens."

Jerrold Matthews turns to his assistant and nods to him.

"What is it?"

"sir, it reads as this: 'Who are you; and what do you want'

Matthews thinks for a moment.

"Send back: 'We are enemies of the Antarians.'

"Sir, that is a risk."

"To win anything worthwhile, risks must be taken. Send it."

"Yes, my lord."

Once he had left he contacted his deputy in charge of the operation.

"We have been successful in opening communications. But prepare the contingency plan. Do not take action without my authorization."

Urter looked at the message. Interesting. Was it a trap? One must consider all possibilities.

They had had a meeting of the core members of the group; the Royal Four and their consorts, and a few others. They were told everything.

Larek sat and thought.

"We cannot consider them anything but hostile. The Noble House that is probably behind the building of this ship was the most fanatical in maintaining the old ways. They have every reason to hate us."

Liz nodded. "We must proceed on that assumption."

Michael shook his head. "The surveillance – that seems to have been done by someone here; that ship just got to Earth such a short time ago. I don't think that it is a coincidence that both of these threats show up at the same time. And while the tech used had Antarian features to it, the Granolith was very firm about it being manufactured on earth."

Kyle nodded. "The only smart thing to do is to figure they are working together. One enemy from space and one from earth. Both hostile to us."

Max sighed. "I had such good news – and then this hits."

They all looked at him, except for Liz who smiled softly.

"The Scout ships have found a system just over 1000 light years away that has multiple planets that we can colonize."

Needless to say that garnered more than a few comments and the meeting quickly became about that.

Alex was of course VERY interested.

"Multiple planets? Is it a binary system or is it like Pegasus?"

"It is like Pegasus. 4 Separate planets that are within the boundaries that we need. One is a little cool and one is a little hot and dry. But two are just about perfect. All the scans indicate that there is nothing wrong with them: the planets and sun are stable; the atmospheres very nearly identical to earth; and so on."

Larek leaned back.

"Just what we have hoped for. One Planet for Antarians, and one for Granularians. The cool planet; what are its parameters? The People of Granular have always preferred a cooler world. Frankly, Australia is much too hot and dry for us. My people might prefer a much cooler world."

Liz nodded. "The temperate zone would be right at 70 degrees; and it would be very close to what Granular was, if a little cooler. The Axis tilt is less than Granular had, so the extremes would be less. I believe it will be a little wetter as well. The Native plants of Granular should do well there. The main continents are more oriented towards the equator. Overall you would have about 20% less land than you had comparably on Granular that would have the same climate."

Larek considered that.

"We are only relatively few. We never used all of Granular; much of it was wilderness. So less overall land is not a factor. I believe it is likely that my people will prefer that planet."

The two groups continued to communicate cautiously for several days. Finally it was agreed for one of them each to meet at an agreed place in Central Africa, far from the notice of any earth organization. A small shuttle from the ship could reach earth without detection. Or so they thought.

Jerrold sent his 2nd ranking assistant to meet; Urter sent one of equal importance. Both sides were being very cautious.

Liz stood there and thought.

"Granolith, you were able to pinpoint where the small ship landed?"

"Yes Queen Elizabeth. It is my conclusion that a small shuttle was used; it would be undetectable by any Human means. In is in central Africa at these coordinates. There is frankly nothing for many miles in any direction. The nearest of our settlements is several hundred miles away."

Max was thoughtful. "Do they not know you can detect them?"

"My abilities have never been known outside a select few on Antar. Even Kivar had no real idea of my capabilities. Most think that I am a source of Knowledge first; with communications and transportation abilities. No one really has a good estimation on my ability to detect energy readings at a distance. It was never discussed."

Liz was worried. "You still do not know how they communicated with someone here on earth?"

"Queen Elizabeth, I cannot detect certain types of transmissions due to their narrow focus and faint energy figures. They clearly used one of those types. Tightly focused Microwave; Laser; there are others."

She sighed. "We must find out who they are on this planet."

Max nodded. "I have contacted the NSA. They are tasking a satellite to watch. The Granolith will take that feed and can enhance it. So we should be able to learn quite a bit."

The two representatives met in the open. At an agreed map coordinate and time.

The shapeshifter made himself look like a native of that area. The human was not; but did not look too out of place.

The human spoke first. "My lord wishes to bring the Antarians down; and greatly change this world. What are your goals?"

"They are the same as regards the Antarians. My liege has given me leave to say this: there is a world we are interested in that the Antarians are looking to move to. We wish to injure them to the point that that will not be possible."

"My Lord wishes to make this world much less than what it was; we look for free places to do as we wish. He looks to space for that. But it would be in his interests if those here were not in the position to interfere."

"If you wish for freedom, do you mean on a world?"

"Or with a ship to go where we wish."

"Such as ours?"

"Yes."

"I will communicate this to my liege."

"And I will tell my Lord that our goals are compatible."

"It is agreed."

"So the meeting was pretty short?"

"5 minutes. We tracked the human, or who we think is human, to the nearby city where we lost him unfortunately. We had no one on the ground to track him. The vehicle identification we are working on but that will probably be a dead end or take so long to trace that it will not matter."

Max slowly nodded. "They will meet again. We will need to have someone on the ground."

"We can put people there in that area but what if they choose somewhere else for the next meeting?"

Liz had been thinking. "We need to use the Granolith; we can have a team ready and once the ship lands we can send that team nearby and they can do the work. As long as they have a portable transmitter with them the Granolith can move them around as needed."

Urter listened to his assistant.

"A ship. That is expensive."

"Yes sir. They seem to not care about this planet at all as long as they can go where they wish."

"That is convenient for our needs. And of course in the end we do not have to give them our ship if they have already done what we need."

"Yes, my liege."

Matthews listened to his deputy.

"So they want to cripple this planet and everyone on it so they can have that planet to themselves?"

"Yes my lord."

"And they basically offered us their ship?"

"Those were their words."

"But it might not be their meaning; or their final intent?"

"I would not know my lord."

"One must assume that they would have no reason to honor an agreement once their need for us is over."

"Yes, My Lord."

The announcement of the discovery of the new worlds caused quite a stir. Many on earth would miss their guests. The huge difference in the world since they had arrived was apparent to all. With the announcement by Larek that the great majority his people had voted for the cooler world, that one of the best planets would be available for colonization by humans, great interest was shown in moving there.

Many Antarians were not exactly all that thrilled at moving again. Max asked all his people to make their feelings known. It was a bit of a surprise to all of them that almost 20% of Antarians did not want to leave Earth. While over 99% of Granularians were content to move to one of the new planets. So now that meant some decisions had to be made by both those of Human origin and Antarian origin. Many of the nations that had hosted settlements let it be known that those that wanted to could stay and become citizens of those nations. Max let it be known that those that wanted to choose to stay could indeed stay. Relationships had become almost common between Antarians and Humans. Many of them would be going to the new world. Many would stay. Now the status of the word that not many seemed to be interested in was something that the UN needed to decide. There has been some interest by people used to extreme climates in that world. The status of the world that would probably become mankinds second home also needed to be figured out.

Meanwhile a second meeting was arranged between the two groups. This time a satellite was able to detect the laser transmission from the aircraft and it was traced. The NSA began to close in on the earth based group.

The second meeting between the two beings was arranged for a part of Africa hundreds of miles away from the first one. But the Granolith was able to beam the team of NSA agents right to the area. And this time they were able to follow the person.

Max looked at the report then at Liz and the rest who were waiting for it.

"They were able to trace the aircraft and the person back to a small group, or at least the NSA thinks is a small group, of very wealthy people. But that is only the outwards appearance. In every way that they can trace, they do not officially exist."

Liz pondered that. "Maybe it's time we brought in Joe and the other Immortals in on this. They have more experience than anyone at how to disappear and cover up and to not exist."

The others agreed. Then the same thought hit Max and Liz and Michael and Alex at all about the same time, Kyle almost as fast.

"Immortals?"

Joe Dawson, Duncan and Methos sat and looked at the group. They had been called in and had made it there in one day and had been given the full briefing. Methos looked hard at the pictures the NSA had been able to get but shook his head as had Duncan and Joe. Duncan looked at Joe.

"Maybe we need Constantine and Cassandra and Amanda to look as well. They might recognize one of them."

"Maybe. But if they have been together for a while, I have a feeling none of us have seen them before."

Methos had been thinking hard.

"Except for the Horsemen thousands of years ago, there has never been a record of any group of Immortals staying together for more than a couple of years before heads rolled. If the information is correct, this group could have been together for perhaps centuries."

"IF they are Immortal." Was tossed out by Joe.

Methos snorted. "You look at the records they have found so far; classic Immortal tactics to cover up identity change. Everything points to this. Including the fact that they have been very careful to have no official status at all. I would bet every place they have been they carefully scouted it out first, then made sure all the local officials were safely in their pocket."

Liz nodded. "The NSA is not certain, the CIA is checking right now, but they think that before central Africa they were in South American in the Pampas Region. In Uruguay; and I will bet they were in Argentina for a while before that. In those more remote regions they could do as they pleased as long as they had the locals in their pocket."

Max sighed. "Just when it seemed complicated enough."

Joe looked at Methos. "How do you think that group is set up?"

"One leader and a group of immortals he recruited to be loyal to him and no one else. It was tried a few times when I was much younger, but it never lasted more than a few years. But I suppose that in the 10,000 or so years Immortals have been around, something like this was inevitable. The REAL question is, why do they want to have contact with this group of Aliens?"

Liz nodded. "That is the big question. I have to think it's about getting off of this planet; their leader must be thinking that sooner or later they will not be able to do as they have done for hundreds of years. Laws and governments and the such are encroaching everywhere."

Methos nodded. "They clearly have no idea that leaving earth means leaving their Immortality behind. I would not be surprised if they wanted to find one of the worlds that we are looking at and move there and do as they please. Of course bringing some mortal subjects with them."

"But what is their reason for wanting to talk to the Aliens; they must have found out about them from the surveillance that this group must have done." This came from Alex.

Michael shrugged. "We cannot be sure that this group did the surveillance; but the fact that they were actively looking for that ship and targeted it with a laser communications device just about has to tell you that they found out about that ship from us."

Methos shrugged. "Immortals are always wary of anyone finding out about them; wanting to leave this planet would seem safer this way then talking to the Antarians or Granularians."

Liz sighed. "But why would the aliens want to have anything to do with them?"

Max looked at them all. "And there we have the proverbial $64,000 question."

The whole process of moving to another planet is incredibly complicated; but at least they had experience at doing it. And this time there was no time constraints. At least 75% of all the settlements would be closed; what to do with them was another big question. The nations where they were based at would inherit them; so it would be up to them. Most would probably be used to house the poor and such. The settlements in Australia would almost certainly be all closed. Australia really did not want a lot of immigrants; and its own population would have little use for them. But it would be such a huge waste to just let them sit there. Much of the equipment and facilities would be taken to the new worlds; but that would still leave the buildings. That would be something that would be discussed and debated for a very long time. Those nations that would use them for their own people –there the facilities would mostly be left to serve them.

Max and Liz were very aware of the fact that this time it would be a lot easier in many ways. But it would still be time consuming and labor intensive.

One night they were resting in their rooms, recovering from a very much needed bout of serious exertion, when Max voiced a thought that had so far gone unspoken.

"Well, you are going to be able to relax about anyone noticing you are not aging."

"Yes. That is a big plus."

"And with these planets so much closer to Earth, visits will be a lot easier."

"That too."

"But that of course begs the question; what about your possible task as yet unknown."

Liz was quiet for a while. "I think it's coming."

Max held her closer. "A feeling?"

"An increasing certainty."

Lisa sat in her room and stared out the window. She knew she had a big decision to make; whether to go to the new world with Liz as her ADC, or to stay on Earth and stay as an immortal. She knew that she could actually tread between the two; and that Alex and the Granolith would be able to supply her with the necessary boost to keep her immortal if she chose. She was very uncertain. Immortality had at first been a huge plus for obvious reasons. But in the nearly two years she had been aware of it she could see now both the plusses and the minuses. Being able to have children still left you with the reality of them aging and you not. She knew the immortal couples were wrestling with this as well. For her it was simpler. But she still felt torn. She had begun to realize that she was more and more starting to see it the way Liz did.

The two groups had now agreed to help each other. The question was on how to accomplish what they wanted. Both were considering the possibilities.

"So we still do not know what they are planning?"

"The last meeting we were still unable to get close enough to overhear anything. We had to be concerned that the Shapeshifters might have advanced technology monitoring the area. We have now gotten a good idea about the human group. They are small, probably not more than 20 people. But they have support offices and the like scattered around the world. We do not think we have identified all of them. As regards the core group, we still cannot figure out how they have managed to stay under the radar like they have. We cannot trace any real history of the group beyond South America, and even that is murky. Where their extreme wealth comes from we do not know; a large amount of it is in Swiss Bank accounts in banks that have so far refused to divulge anything. The identities of that core group are clearly artificial; but superbly done."

Max and Liz nodded and dismissed the NSA contact. Afterwards they cuddled on the sofa in their main room. The children were in school, so they had the suites to themselves for the time being.

Max sighed. "I do not think there is any doubt that they are Immortals."

Liz nodded. "And we need to be very careful about this; we cannot let the secret of Immortality be known to any government agency anywhere."

"I am going to talk to the President; I will ask him to pull their people off of it and that we will take care of it from now on."

"I agree. We handle this inhouse."

Joe was talking to Methos.

"I have been checking on what you have speculated on; and I think we can trace back where this all started from by tracking watcher deaths."

"That is what I thought as soon as we knew they were Immortals. I really doubt that they have been together since before the watchers were strongly established. I believe that they have only been together for the last 4-500 years at most."

"I was working on the assumption that they would make sure the body of the watcher would not be found; so no one would see that they had been tortured for information."

"Definitely."

"Watchers have disappeared with no trace now and then; but about 300 years ago there were a fair spate of them- 8 in about 30 years. Then it stopped. There have only been the occasional one since."

"Who was the first one?"

"Jerrold Matthews. BUT he was supposedly confirmed dead over 300 years ago. As a matter of fact all the immortals of the missing watchers were confirmed dead. Which is one reason why no one thought of anything of the disappearences."

"Once one knows of watchers, it's not hard to lead them down the road you want them to go. I see a carefully thought out systematic plan to make sure the only ones keeping track would not be looking."

"As you well know."

Methos grinned at his old friend. Then he sobered. "What was known about Matthews?"

"Not much. He was found after about 20 years as an immortal when he took a head of one that had a watcher. Now his watcher disappeared about thirty years later; I should say his second watcher; he was only there for a few years before he was gone."

Methos nodded. "The new guy was not as careful. He got spotted. And Matthews caught him, tortured him for all available information, and then made him disappear. And began to put his crew together. Using the watchers to confirm his death and those that he wanted to keep in the group. This guy is very smart."

"The little we have on him said that he was very sharp and very ruthless. But not a headhunter."

"They do not last long, and they do not group together. Their nature is too volatile and too easily tempted. I bet when you look at those that their watchers disappeared you will find they are all relatively quiet types. Not emotional or unstable."

"But we still do not know what they are up to."

"Whatever it is, you can bet it's not small."


	3. Chapter 3

An entire planet. That was a huge payoff. Which of course meant they never intended to pay it off. Jerrold Matthews had no doubt of that. They needed humans to help them. And would be disposed of immediately after. That is what he would do, so no doubt they would do the same. So one had to prepare. The problem was of course that they had the whip hand in that they had the ship that would be needed to get there. Or so they thought. Jerrold had no doubt he could outmaneuver them; he just had to be careful.

A ship or a planet; Jerrold had let them think he wanted a planet of his own. Actually, he was not certain yet which way to go. There were factors for both.

A ship was freedom; but you also had to maintain in and that would require those that could. Jerrold knew that keeping immortality secret was vital; if it ever got out they would all end up as lab rats being vivisected. The greatest goal humanity had was immortality; so no one could be trusted with their secret. Yet the ship would allow them to go where they wished when they wished.

Another argument against the ship was the small number of earth like planets; the Antarians had been looking for years and these were the first truly viable ones. But then again immortality was time; they could spend decades if necessary looking. But did they want to? The ship seemed very small; cooped up in a small ship for years would not be good.

He had been very careful to recruit followers and not leaders; to make sure none of them would ever think of challenging him. And after hundreds of years that had held. But years in a small ship looking at nothing; Jerrold knew that confinement was an entirely different way of living; it could breed many things not good.

Now a planet. Free to do as you want not worrying about a government or someone coming after you. In many ways that would be a truer freedom than a ship. But mankind would come sooner or later; that was a fact. Even if the ships the Antarians had were destroyed, mankind knew it could be done and how. It would be just a matter of time. But if mankind was prevented from coming for several hundred years, then things changed. One could build to the point that visitors could be run off. But that would take constant work over a century or more to build the infrastructure.

But what if you had both; a ship and a planet. Stay on the planet while the ship is searching for new homes; then leave if one has to. That in many ways was the Immortal story; stay until you have to leave then find a new place. Only in this case that meant a new planet. That was it. He would have both. Which meant taking the ship away from the aliens and at the same time making sure humanity could not follow for a long time.

The Aliens were the enemies of the Antarians for changing their planets way of life. Jerrold could understand that; and it would enable them to work together long enough for him to get what he needed from them. Then they would be removed from the equation.

Urter contemplated what they had learned about these humans. Clearly intelligent and ruthless; but of course no match for him and his liege. They were humans.

Promise them what they want and then after they had done what was needed they would be disposed of. His Liege would have a new world to build an empire the way he wanted, not what the mass of low class peasants wanted. That would not be allowed to happen on the new world.

But first the Anatarians needed to be dealt with. And primitive as it was, this world did have what they needed for that to be done. It had to be carefully planned; the rogue humans would get the blame for what happpned.

The arrangements for the second great migration were starting to fall into place; having done it once made it easier to do it again. And this time there was no deadline. The ships were still there to do it with; and everything else was at hand. This would be a much shorter trip; only a little more than a month one way. There were some that contemplated not podding the people; but the time and effort and resources that would be needed to go that route was prohibitive. The ships would all have to be modified and there would need to be three times as many trips. And other resources would be needed. No, they would pod this time as well.

Max held the first meeting since the announcement 2 months later. This was with the senior administrators of all the settlements. Since each one was allowed to bring an assistant, which meant over 800 people. It was held in the convention center in Roswell. They had not designed any facility that big for the palace; which made sense since it was not needed.

Max walked into the main hall and all the people involved Stood up as was custom; Larek and his aides were with him.

"Please, everyone, take your seats. This is going to take a while and lets be as informal as possible. Now the first item on the agenda, and as we all know the most contentious, will be who stays and who goes. I have made it clear, and all the earth governments involved have agreed, that anyone that does not want to go can stay. BUT it means that those that stay will have to that countries citizens and swear an overriding oath to that country. So make sure everyone knows that."

So that got things going; but it was not as tough as he had thought it might be. Having lived on earth for years, many of those that wanted to stay had no illusions about things here. He made it clear that once they took the oath, he no longer led them or had any real responsibility for them. And if they changed their minds getting to the new planet would be up to them. New Antar, as the world would be called, would not foot the bill.

The next item was where everyone would go. That was fairly easy as the Granularians already had their world so that would be up to Larek and his government on how to handle that.

Now for the Antarians, Max and Liz had already picked out where the capital would be; at the foot of the mountains near a large lake; a very beautiful area that was right in the middle of the biggest continent; in the middle of the temperate zone. It would be cooler and wetter than Roswell, more like Colorado.

Max then pretty much let it be known that where everyone wanted to go would be up to them. The main settlement areas would be where they would go first; then after that it was up to the individuals or groups or whatever. It was a pretty big planet with a lot of area for only 250 million, which was the current total of those that wanted to go. Some human mates would go with the Antarians, but Max made it clear it was only family that went; no one else from earth would go in the migration. After was another story.

The UN and the various Earth governments were talking about the other planet that was going to be Mankinds Second home. Needless to say the wrangling was already hot and heavy. Countries with huge populations like China and India wanted of course to have most of it to themselves on the grounds that they needed it. That was countered by other countries very small in size but heavily populated like Japan and Bangladesh. Or countries like Poland that had been fought over many times and wanted safe room and space. People like the Kurds and the Basque who wanted their own homelands.

Meanwhile Max had been able to convince the President to let the Antarians handle the threat as it was mostly alien; the small group of humans were very interesting to the NSA, and for that reason it was very important to take them out of the equation. Liz and the other immortals had no doubt that they knew who they were; and all the more reason to keep any earth agency out of it. Since they had identified who the Aliens were and where they came from, the motivation was clear: they wanted the new world so as to rebuild their dynasty. And to do that they had to prevent the Antarians from going there. How they would do this was the mystery. And it was what had Max and the others thinking hard.

Jerrold had decided that he needed to meet the leader of the aliens face to face in order to really come to an agreement. The fact that they were shapeshifters was interesting but not really that important.

Urter had no intention of the humans knowing or even getting close to his leader so he would make it appear that it was all up to him. His Liege had granted him this authority. He would not disappoint him.

Jerrold once again wanted a meeting far away from the major powers and the Antarian settlements; this time it was in the Sahara Desert, a great distance from any town or city. This would make it easy to ensure security.

Once again the Granolith gave the Antarians a huge advantage, by being able to teleport. Alex and his nerd herd had figured out how to block the sensors of the Alien ship; so they would be able to get quite close this time. The Antarians chosen had been carefully vetted; they needed cool and calm ones for this.

Jerrold looked at the shapeshifter; he had taken a form that fit in with this area; a Bedouin. They were in what looked like a typical Bedouin traveling group. Jerrold and his assistants had flown in on a relatively small plane. Then they had taken camels to the coordinates – that had taken a full day.

Urter looked at the human; there seemed to be nothing remarkable about him. But then they all were unremarkable anyway.

"I see no reason not to be straightforward. We wish to leave this planet and go to the stars; and one day find a home again. So we need a ship. You want to make sure the Antarians cannot interfere on your new world. Frankly it is in our best interests that earth is also prevented from doing the same. That means destroying the ships and ship building capability at the least. But in reality it means more for you, am I correct?"

Urter slowly nodded. So far so good.

"That is correct. If just the ships and shipyards are destroyed, in time they can build them again. Not enough time will go by. They must be weakened, both Antarians and Humans, to the point that hundreds of years will pass before they can reach the stars."

"I Am sorry sir; but the Shapeshifters have something that the granolith is reading that it has not seen before; they cannot be sure that the jamming device will work."

The senior Antarian agent cursed. They had been unable to get close enough for the devices they had to overhear the conversations of the Aliens and Humans. But his orders from His Majesty were clear; above all else they must not be detected.

"So it was a bust?"

Was Michaels statement when the lead antarian shamefacedly made his report. Max had told them that he had followed orders and the failure was not on him; but the Antarian clearly still felt that he had failed his king.

Liz shrugged. "Not wholly. We got good pictures of the human and his assistants. And it seemed very likely he was their leader. We have been able to follow him all the way back to where they live at this time. The old watcher diaries only gave descriptions, they did not have cameras back then. But it does seem that Jerrold Mattews is who we thought he was; of course the only way to really confirm that is to have a Immortal get close to him; or find a way to get a sensor close to them. The Granolith and Alex are working on that now. It will not take time. But that is really besides the point; Immortal or not, it is clear he is up to no good and we have to stop both groups."

"We have an idea vaguely that they want to prevent the second migration, but the question is how." Said Max.

Michael snorted. "Well really we have not learned much more, have we? As far as I am concerned it was a bust."

Liz shook her head. "No, we learned about the Shapeshifters sensor; we did not know about it before. Now that we got some readings on it the Granolith is confident it can block it as well. That could very well be important down the road."

Jerrold Matthews had to hand it to the Aliens; they did think big. And it made a lot of sense. But it would take some work and preparation to accomplish it. But they had plenty of time; the Antarians would not be making their move for some time. Time they would not have.

They had gotten the loan of a satellite to keep an eye on the Immortals; so they had a good idea of where they went and what they did. Sophisticated surveillance allowed the gradual tracing of the network of mortals that the Immortals were using to get things done and get information. It was hoped that they would be able to piece things together in time to stop whatever they were planning.

Urter had been very forthright in what he wanted; humans and Antarians so badly damaged that it would be centuries before they could go anywhere again. He intended to destroy most of the ships in parking orbit around the moon, just in case. They would take a few just to have them. But causing that much damage on earth meant using earth weapons; and that meant Nuclear Missiles of the two main powers, Russia and the US. Now how to do this was what would take preparation and planning. They could just seize the ships with boarding parties and send most crashing to the moon; and the rest to ram and destroy the shipyards and asteroid mining facilities.

First they had to figure out which one to go after; Russian or US. That took observation and acquisition of information. Jerrold Matthews was intrigued by the premise; the fact that hundreds of millions would die mattered little to him. They were mortals and therefore expendable. He assigned the tasks of finding the needed information to his designated assistance for such matters, Alexander Worthing, one of the immortals that had been with him the longest. Alexander believed in the simple fact that virtually everyone can be bought; and if one cannot be there is always another that can be.

The US Missiles were controlled from Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Quite a bit of information was available publicly. The Russian system called Perimeter was also in a mountain in Russia. So Jerrold ordered Alexander to find out more.

The sophisticated surveillance allowed them to start to identify the mortal assistants and employees to the immortals, but it was a slow process.

Meanwhile they tried to figure out the ultimate goal and thus what tools they would use.

"OK. They want the planet we are looking at. To get it they have to stop us from going there. So that means destroying our ships." This from Michael.

"They would also have to destroy the space docks around Mars and the asteroid mining complexes that their materials come from. They have to destroy both the ships and the means to make more." This from Alex.

"So we have to protect both. What is the threat and what can we do to protect against it?" Max mused.

As the discussion turned to how to do that, Liz was thinking. From the briefing Larek had given them long ago, she remembered that there really were not any warships that anyone knew about. Interstellar ships were terribly expensive and tended to be small due to that. And have little if any armament.

"Max, I do not think that is the whole threat."

They all looked at her.

"To destroy the ships and complexes would require hundreds of nuclear weapons; they would have to make them. No ship known carries any kind of weapon that could seriously damage such large ships or complexes. I think it is more likely that they would find a way to order the ships to crash themselves on the moon; and commander some to send them crashing into the complexes and shipyards."

Alex slowly nodded. "That makes sense. It is not like those ships could not be boarded as they currently are. We can put a kind of locking mechanism on the hatches but then a shuttle crew could blow a hole in the side of the ship and gain entrance that way. So we need to completely disable the ships so they cannot be used in that way."

That was agreed upon and also Alex and his nerd herd would look into putting together some kind of missile defense system for the shipyards and mining complexes.

A few days later as the first information started to come in, Alexander updated his lord.

"We have been able to gather already a large amount of information about the American system and location. We are looking to get more specific information soon. The Russian system will take more time; but we are optimistic that some carefully handled bribes should take care of that situation."

Jerrold nodded and told him to get along with it. So far so good.

While this was going on, the debate in the UN was also going on about who was to have sovereignty of the new planet that would become mankind's first colony. As was to be expected, the debate was long and rancorous. The poor countries wanted to have it; the rich countries pointed out that the poor countries could not even organize what they had let alone a colony. The poor of course maintained that they were being held down by the rich ones. It would not end soon.

The preparations for leaving earth were somewhat leisurely compared to the first time getting there; and this time there was no pressure.

It had only taken one week for one of Alexander's operatives to come across a former officer who had worked at Perimeter and bribe him enough to get most of what they needed. He was not part of the security system, though, so they needed one of them. He had a convenient car accident days later.

Interestingly enough, it was proving much harder to find a senior enough officer who had worked at Cheyenne Mountain recently enough and could be bought. So Alexander was looking into the possibility of kidnapping one and using torture to find out what they needed. He ordered a group to start looking at the possibility while pushing the other ones to find a buyable officer.

Jerrold looked at the briefing on the Perimeter system. In some ways it looked harder to get into then what the Cheyenne system did; after all they had tourists going into NORAD on a daily basis while Perimeter was a closed area. But it was beginning to look like the so called closed area might be easier to break into.

What was more interesting was the Dead Hand; the doomsday system that the Russians had put together in the 1980's and had never deactivated. It was a system of sensors that would tell Perimeter that nuclear weapons had detonated on Russian soil; and that would trigger immediate missile launches. This had potential.

Alexander sighed and put down the report of the latest efforts to get intel on Cheyenne Mountain. They had found a lowly security specialist in deep debt due to gambling and had been able to buy him. But what they had found out was disappointing. But really came as no surprise to Alexander once he had learned the basics of the American System. To retarget the missiles to strike American soil would be difficult and more than likely ensure no launch was done at all. The security features at the mountain would make it difficult for even shapeshifters in the form of senior government officials or generals to gain admittance. They would have to be able to fool people while talking to them; which was unlikely.

A few days later he was much more cheerful as he read the report of a midlevel security officer that had been bought off as regards Perimeter. It was beginning to look like this was the way to go. Unquestioned obedience had been drilled into the security officers; so someone that looked like a senior general and his aides would be able to get into the control system. There the Dead Hand features could come into play; it brought down the launching of the rockets to one man; and that position was accessible once you reached the core of the control area. Better yet the information had been verified that all of the Antarian and Granularian settlements were already targets. Even the ones on Russian soil. A triumph of paranoia, certainly.

Jerrold listened to Alexander and thought for a while.

"I agree. Well done, Alexander. We will go after the Russians. We need to verify all this from additional sources as you have recommended. Commence immediately."

Joe Dawson and Methos had decided to bring in the council on the idea of hidden Immortals; and they had jumped on it right away. The Council had built up a lot of contacts over the years in many nations; and most of those were with the military or security forces. And the intelligence services. Those contacts were being milked and were starting to produce dividends.

"It looks like they are definitely trying something in Russia. Just what is still unknown. But they are putting resources into digging into the Russian military and intelligence services."

Max, Liz, Michael, Alex and the Antarian security service reps were listening to the report that Methos had put together.

Liz pondered all of this.

"We know they want to destroy or capture the ships; destroy the mining complexes and shipyards. So why are they looking at putting such time and resources into finding more about Russia?"

Micheal shrugged. "That is what we have to find out. Obviously it is part of their plans somehow."

One more meeting was arranged; this time the Granolith was sure they could get close enough to hear details.

"My lord wishes to inform you that they have the necessary information to commence the planning."

"My Liege will be pleased. We will notify you of the next meeting; it will be soon."

"That was all?" came from a frustrated Michael.

"That was all that was said. But we now know we can get close enough to overhear without being caught. So the next meeting should furnish more than enough information for us to begin to respond to the threat."

Max and the others looked at each other as the intelligence personnel left the meeting.

"Michael, we have to be patient."

"I think we are just sitting back and waiting and that is not the way to go. We need to go right at them and take them out; the Aliens and the Immortals. Wipe them clean. THAT will end it all."

Liz looked around and saw that most of those in the room agreed. And frankly so did she. But Max wanted to wait, and she had to respect that decision.


	4. Chapter 4

They had gotten the loan of a satellite to keep an eye on the Immortals; so they had a good idea of where they went and what they did. Sophisticated surveillance allowed the gradual tracing of the network of mortals that the Immortals were using to get things done and get information. It was hoped that they would be able to piece things together in time to stop whatever they were planning.

Urter had been very forthright in what he wanted; humans and Antarians so badly damaged that it would be centuries before they could go anywhere again. He intended to destroy most of the ships in parking orbit around the moon, just in case. They would take a few just to have them. But causing that much damage on earth meant using earth weapons; and that meant Nuclear Missiles of the two main powers, Russia and the US. Now how to do this was what would take preparation and planning. They could just seize the ships with boarding parties and send most crashing to the moon; and the rest to ram and destroy the shipyards and asteroid mining facilities.

First they had to figure out which one to go after; Russian or US. That took observation and acquisition of information. Jerrold Matthews was intrigued by the premise; the fact that hundreds of millions would die mattered little to him. They were mortals and therefore expendable. He assigned the tasks of finding the needed information to his designated assistance for such matters, Alexander Worthing, one of the immortals that had been with him the longest. Alexander believed in the simple fact that virtually everyone can be bought; and if one cannot be there is always another that can be.

The US Missiles were controlled from Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Quite a bit of information was available publicly. The Russian system called Perimeter was also in a mountain in Russia. So Jerrold ordered Alexander to find out more.

The sophisticated surveillance allowed them to start to identify the mortal assistants and employees to the immortals, but it was a slow process.

Meanwhile they tried to figure out the ultimate goal and thus what tools they would use.

"OK. They want the planet we are looking at. To get it they have to stop us from going there. So that means destroying our ships." This from Michael.

"They would also have to destroy the space docks around Mars and the asteroid mining complexes that their materials come from. They have to destroy both the ships and the means to make more." This from Alex.

"So we have to protect both. What is the threat and what can we do to protect against it?" Max mused.

As the discussion turned to how to do that, Liz was thinking. From the briefing Larek had given them long ago, she remembered that there really were not any warships that anyone knew about. Interstellar ships were terribly expensive and tended to be small due to that. And have little if any armament.  
"Max, I do not think that is the whole threat."

They all looked at her.  
"To destroy the ships and complexes would require hundreds of nuclear weapons; they would have to make them. No ship known carries any kind of weapon that could seriously damage such large ships or complexes. I think it is more likely that they would find a way to order the ships to crash themselves on the moon; and commander some to send them crashing into the complexes and shipyards."

Alex slowly nodded. "That makes sense. It is not like those ships could not be boarded as they currently are. We can put a kind of locking mechanism on the hatches but then a shuttle crew could blow a hole in the side of the ship and gain entrance that way. So we need to completely disable the ships so they cannot be used in that way."

That was agreed upon and also Alex and his nerd herd would look into putting together some kind of missile defense system for the shipyards and mining complexes.

A few days later as the first information started to come in, Alexander updated his lord.

"We have been able to gather already a large amount of information about the American system and location. We are looking to get more specific information soon. The Russian system will take more time; but we are optimistic that some carefully handled bribes should take care of that situation."

Jerrold nodded and told him to get along with it. So far so good.

While this was going on, the debate in the UN was also going on about who was to have sovereignty of the new planet that would become mankind's first colony. As was to be expected, the debate was long and rancorous. The poor countries wanted to have it; the rich countries pointed out that the poor countries could not even organize what they had let alone a colony. The poor of course maintained that they were being held down by the rich ones. It would not end soon.

The preparations for leaving earth were somewhat leisurely compared to the first time getting there; and this time there was no pressure.

It had only taken one week for one of Alexander's operatives to come across a former officer who had worked at Perimeter and bribe him enough to get most of what they needed. He was not part of the security system, though, so they needed one of them. He had a convenient car accident days later.

Interestingly enough, it was proving much harder to find a senior enough officer who had worked at Cheyenne Mountain recently enough and could be bought. So Alexander was looking into the possibility of kidnapping one and using torture to find out what they needed. He ordered a group to start looking at the possibility while pushing the other ones to find a buyable officer.

Jerrold looked at the briefing on the Perimeter system. In some ways it looked harder to get into then what the Cheyenne system did; after all they had tourists going into NORAD on a daily basis while Perimeter was a closed area. But it was beginning to look like the so called closed area might be easier to break into.

What was more interesting was the Dead Hand; the doomsday system that the Russians had put together in the 1980's and had never deactivated. It was a system of sensors that would tell Perimeter that nuclear weapons had detonated on Russian soil; and that would trigger immediate missile launches. This had potential.

Alexander sighed and put down the report of the latest efforts to get intel on Cheyenne Mountain. They had found a lowly security specialist in deep debt due to gambling and had been able to buy him. But what they had found out was disappointing. But really came as no surprise to Alexander once he had learned the basics of the American System. To retarget the missiles to strike American soil would be difficult and more than likely ensure no launch was done at all. The security features at the mountain would make it difficult for even shapeshifters in the form of senior government officials or generals to gain admittance. They would have to be able to fool people while talking to them; which was unlikely.

A few days later he was much more cheerful as he read the report of a midlevel security officer that had been bought off as regards Perimeter. It was beginning to look like this was the way to go. Unquestioned obedience had been drilled into the security officers; so someone that looked like a senior general and his aides would be able to get into the control system. There the Dead Hand features could come into play; it brought down the launching of the rockets to one man; and that position was accessible once you reached the core of the control area. Better yet the information had been verified that all of the Antarian and Granularian settlements were already targets. Even the ones on Russian soil. A triumph of paranoia, certainly.

Jerrold listened to Alexander and thought for a while.  
"I agree. Well done, Alexander. We will go after the Russians. We need to verify all this from additional sources as you have recommended. Commence immediately."

Joe Dawson and Methos had decided to bring in the council on the idea of hidden Immortals; and they had jumped on it right away. The Council had built up a lot of contacts over the years in many nations; and most of those were with the military or security forces. And the intelligence services. Those contacts were being milked and were starting to produce dividends.

"It looks like they are definitely trying something in Russia. Just what is still unknown. But they are putting resources into digging into the Russian military and intelligence services."

Max, Liz, Michael, Alex and the Antarian security service reps were listening to the report that Methos had put together.

Liz pondered all of this.  
"We know they want to destroy or capture the ships; destroy the mining complexes and shipyards. So why are they looking at putting such time and resources into finding more about Russia?"

Micheal shrugged. "That is what we have to find out. Obviously it is part of their plans somehow."

One more meeting was arranged; this time the Granolith was sure they could get close enough to hear details.

"My lord wishes to inform you that they have the necessary information to commence the planning."

"My Liege will be pleased. We will notify you of the next meeting; it will be soon."

"That was all?" came from a frustrated Michael.

"That was all that was said. But we now know we can get close enough to overhear without being caught. So the next meeting should furnish more than enough information for us to begin to respond to the threat."

Max and the others looked at each other as the intelligence personnel left the meeting.  
"Michael, we have to be patient."

"I think we are just sitting back and waiting and that is not the way to go. We need to go right at them and take them out; the Aliens and the Immortals. Wipe them clean. THAT will end it all."

Liz looked around and saw that most of those in the room agreed. And frankly so did she. But Max wanted to wait, and she had to respect that decision.

The surveillance and other intelligence gathering was shaping up into something that was not good at all. The continued and concentrated effort to get information on the Russian Missile control systems was very worrying. And as rumors of a 'Doomsday' switch continued to gather support, Liz was beginning to think that they could not wait.

Max was very conflicted due to the presence of both Aliens and Immortals in this mix. Keeping the Immortals secret was so important to him personally that he was very reluctant to take action until it was necessary.

Michael was especially irritated at Max's hesitation. They knew who was involved, they had a pretty good idea now of what their intentions were. And it was something that had to be stamped on HARD.

The Immortals were of the opinion they needed to take some heads.

Liz found herself in the very middle of it all. As the Immortal's 'Queen' and as Max's Queen.

Jerrold had made the decision that they would target Perimeter. That was agreed upon with the Aliens. They would at the same time send boarding parties one after another to the ships in orbit around the moon. It would take time and would have to come after the Missiles launched. Once the missiles were launched Earth would be a wasteland from both the immediate effects and radiation fall out.  
Liz and the Immortals had planned to confront and behead their opponents; but the real problem was getting the Aliens. Finally Alex came up with an idea.  
"We know where their ship is in orbit, right?"

"Yes."

"Disguise a nuke as space debris and let it drift close to the ship and then detonate it. They have no shields and the pulse would cripple them just like any other electronic system."

"First we have to get a nuke."

"That is not a problem."

Liz looked at Methos.  
"What do you mean?"

"The Russians have a fair number that would be easy for US to pilfer."

Liz took a deep breath. "OK, make preparations to do so. But do not go for the bomb until I say so."

"It will take a few weeks to set up anyway."

Liz told Max what they were planning. He sighed.  
"I hate the thought of having anything to do with those things but I have to admit it would solve that problem. Now for the Immortals."

"That is my job Max."

"Liz."

"I am for all intents and purposes their Queen. Of course it is my job."

It did take several weeks during which it became very clear what the Aliens and Immortals were going to do. Liz and Alex looked over what they had been able to find out about Perimeter and shuddered. The fact that it was still operational was obscene. Liz quietly made the decision that Perimeter was going to be destroyed as well.

Jerrold was satisfied with the preparations to seize and use Perimeter. But he was less happy with the plan to also seize the Alien ship. They would have to grab the small shuttle but they would still have to find a way to get onboard the ship then they would have to find a way to figure out how to run it. The more he thought of it the more he realized they would have to forget about it and instead use one of the Antarian ships. So he ordered Alexander to find him some disaffected Aliens that they could use and then discard later.

Max blinked as he looked at his Antarian Security Chief.  
"You have identified humans trying to suborn Antarians?"

"No Your Majesty, Granularians. And they appear to be making progress."

Max had to think on that; but it made sense. There were Granularians not happy with the way things were being done; mad that it appeared He was running everything. So it should not be surprising that the Immortals, and he had no doubt they were the ones doing it, would be trying to get insurance just in case. The fact that they were Granularians who had been pilots and engineers of the ships just underscored the situation.

Alexander was quite pleased; in a relatively short time they had been able to contact and basically buy a number of Aliens who were experienced in operating the large ships. They would only need one. Already they had a dozen they would be able to use. And there were shuttles that could be seized on Earth.

Jerrold listened to the report. He shook his head; he had been a fool for even trying to rely on the other aliens when he could buy his own. He directed Alexander to move ahead with the arrangements. And they would go to Plan B, which he had been working on from day one. Backup if they were unable to use the first group of aliens.

Liz had given Methos the word to go after the bomb; and with the help of an Antarian shuttle and some Antarian mind work, they had gotten one that was quite large; a Megaton sized H Bomb.

Alex had worked on a shielding system with the Granolith; the alien ship would not sense what was coming.

Liz had asked the Granolith as a failsafe to ensure that the plan worked; if necessary it would destroy the alien ship itself. Unfortunately that would attract a lot of attention and it would not be a good thing; but Liz felt they had to be sure. Max had agreed on the failsafe.

Max was hesitating, wanting more confirmation on what exactly the plans of both the sides were doing.

"Max we know enough. The threat is too big to wait. We have to move."  
Michael was frustrated.

"We have to make sure that no one suspects about Immortals."

Liz gave the order to deploy the bomb; Max was too worried and she needed to take action.

Jerrold looked at his people. "We move in 48 hours. We will take Perimeter and set it off; then take the shuttle our Aliens have quietly gotten control of and seize a ship."

Alexander looked at him. "My Liege, what about the other Aliens?"

"Simple. We inform the Antarians that the ship is going to attack the Roswell site. A very nice diversion while we do what we need to do."

Liz was trying to get some other work done while thinking about what was going to be happening very soon in orbit. Then something began to niggle at her; she blinked and concentrated. Then moving almost as a automaton she quietly headed out to where the message had been displayed on that wall.

"Queen Elizabeth you must move now. Gather your warriors. Quickly."

Methos looked up as the phone rang. Grace answered it. Then paled and said "Understood." Methos was already up and moving to her as she turned.  
"The immortals are moving. We have to take action now."

Liz had the Granolith beam in all those she had chosen. Duncan, Connor, Methos, Richie, Constantine, Cassandra, Annie, Sean, Amanda.

She looked at them. "The VOICE has told me the Immortals are moving now; we have to take them down."

At that moment the wall glowed again. "Go here." Then there were a set of numbers. Methos quickly recognized them. "Latitude and Longitude."

The wall glowed one more time. "NOW."

Liz took a deep breath and told them. "Let's get to the Granolith NOW."


	5. Chapter 5

Each group had to go through two more blast doors before they could get to the main control room. But the Granolith, able to work through the Perimeter computer system and override it, opened them much faster.

Liz led her group into the main control room; as expected everyone was dead there. Then the Granolith spoke to her.

"Queen Elizabeth, the other group will breach the last door to the control room within the next few minutes."

Liz looked around at her people; she was very grateful for the extra time. There had been several discussions about how to go about taking down the immortals. The need to keep immortality a secret was understood; but preventing a nuclear attack was more important and they had all agreed. Luckily things had worked out as they had hoped.

"OK, everyone, get out your tasers."

These tasers were very much like the ones that the Military had used against the skins; much more powerful than anything anyone else had. It had been agreed that taking heads could not be done there; who knew what the effects of all the lightning and quickening released could have in such a confined area; it was possible it could set off Dead Hand.

Then Methos and everyone else began to feel the buzz of approaching Immortals.

Jerrold stopped dead; what was THIS? His men looked at him in shock. Grimly he told them.

"Get ready." They pulled out their swords as his assistant triggered an over ride on what was the door to the main control room. It opened and he led them in calmly.

To face Queen Elizabeth and other immortals waiting for him. His mouth dropped open in shock. She could not possibly be Immortal; pictures had been shown of her clearly pregnant. How could this be?

Liz looked at them calmly. "Your questions will never be answered."

Then she fired as did every other immortal; several of them had two tasers and targeted more than one of Jerrold's henchmen. Liz took him out. Seconds later they were all laying on the floor. The power of the tasers were estimated to be able to stop the heart; they were all most likely dead. If not they would be out for some time. Even Immortals cannot shrug off 100,000 volts.

Liz directed the rest of the immortals to gather them all closely together. Then they all were transported out by the Granolith. Leaving only Methos with Liz. He checked the computer systems; as expected they were all on standby. Liz questioned the Granolith.

"Dead Hand?"

"That is located in another room right next to the main control room. I will open the door now."

At the far end of the control room, a somewhat smaller door opened and Liz and Methos walked in. There was no one in there. Liz was curious.

"Why is it not manned?"

"The system was automatic; if the sensors detected what was considered by the computer to be nuclear explosions on Russian soil, it would automatically launch."

She looked around curiously; there were several consoles with blinking lights; but it certainly did not look like the Doomsday Machine it actually was. She took a deep breath.

"Where can we plant the charges?"

"I will direct you." They had brought demolition charges for just this purpose.

It did not take long. Then Liz looked around. "Granolith, open all the doors once you transport us out." Methos then set the charges for 5 minutes. Then they were taken away.

The Russian response force had just managed to force open the main door to the installation when suddenly the doors in front of them began to open. The commander was suspicious. Was this a trap? Then they heard an explosion from deep inside the mountain. He led them forward at a run.

Liz and Methos materialized back at the Granolith; Max was waiting for her.

"I am sorry, Liz. I should have acted sooner just like you and Michael wanted; I was so worried about Immortality being found out and the risk to you that I was just unable to make a decision."

Methos headed off to talk to the others while Liz hugged Max.

"I understand Max. One of the reasons I love you so much."

The Russians were able to keep the media from finding out about what happened at Perimeter; while the nuclear blast was explained straightforwardly by Max.

"They were a threat to Earth and to Us; it was decided that we could not wait and we took action. We will of course repair and pay for any damage done on Earth."

They had given some details; carefully tailored. The Theft of the shuttle was included. It was explained that the Aliens wanted to destroy Earth's capability of space travel; in order to have those planets for themselves. Since this was the Truth, if not the whole truth, it was generally accepted by most.

Needless to say President Medeyev replaced the Commander of the Russian Strategic Forces and made it plain that Dead Hand was NOT to be repaired.

Liz had told him and the others that those that had tried to start WW3 had been killed and they were taken and buried so that no one could ever identify them. President Medeyev had been told almost the whole story; just the immortal part was left out.

What to be done about the Immortals was a problem. Clearly they could not be allowed to go free; they would always be a threat. Liz held a meeting of her Immortals the next day. Jerrold and the others were being kept unconscious using powerful drugs; chained up and kept in a secured area deep in the Palace.

Liz looked around. "OK. What do we do with them?"

Methos was blunt. "Their crimes are clear; their intent as well. No need for a bogus trial. They are guilty. They must die – permanently."

No one disagreed. Liz sighed. "I agree. Now how do we do it."

Duncan was very calm. "I want nothing to do with any of their Quickenings."

One by one they all agreed. Liz nodded. "I agree as well." She then sat back and thought about it. She knew what had to be done; and it was up to her. She stood up and looked at them.

"This is my decision and no one else's. They will be executed. I will have a guillotine built and we will execute them one by one."

And one week later it was done. The head of the Antarian Security force made it clear they would do it. He had talked to Liz about it.

"Your Majesty, this is a job for us. To remove threats to the Royal Family. I know that you feel responsible; but this should be done by those that frankly could care less about these criminals."

Liz had talked to Max and the others; they had unanimously stated that Liz should not do it. She had sat there thinking; a pensive look on her face. Michael had put it plainly.

"Liz, there is no reason you should feel bad about this at all. It has to be done. And there is NO GOOD REASON you have to be involved."

In the end Liz stood there as each one was led to the guillotine and executed. She took each Quickening; that was her decision. So that it would always be with her; she would not be able to forget it.

The next day Liz sat in her office; the quickening had not been that strong; but they had all been very consistent. A more amoral group would be hard to find.

Then she felt something and looked around. She headed towards the room where the wall was that whoever or whatever it was kept sending messages to her. On it was this simple message:

"YOU DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE. YOU HAVE DONE WELL, QUEEN ELIZABETH."

Elizabeth Claudia Parker Evans, Queen Elizabeth of the Antarian People, Immortal Warrior, sighed. What was next?

thumper1942Addicted Roswellian Posts: 167Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:37 am


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